Man in custody after SWAT standoff in Bellaire

An armed suspect is reportedly in the 4800 block of Tamarisk, on Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. Police SWAT teams are responding.

An armed suspect is reportedly in the 4800 block of Tamarisk, on Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. Police SWAT teams are responding.

Photo: Google Maps

Photo: Google Maps

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An armed suspect is reportedly in the 4800 block of Tamarisk, on Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. Police SWAT teams are responding.

An armed suspect is reportedly in the 4800 block of Tamarisk, on Friday, Aug. 10, 2018. Police SWAT teams are responding.

Photo: Google Maps

Man in custody after SWAT standoff in Bellaire

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A man has been taken into custody after an hours-long standoff outside a house in Bellaire.

The incident began around 8:30 a.m. Friday, when a Bellaire police officer pulled over the man for allegedly running a stop sign. The man got out of the car immediately and fired two shots at the patrol car, Chief Byron Holloway said. The shots hit the windshield and didn't injure the officer.

The officer returned gunfire, and the man fled, abandoning his car around Fournace and the West Loop 610 service road, Holloway said.

During the brief pursuit, he fired at least one more shot at officers, according to the chief.

The man saw officers closing in and took up a post on the front porch of a house in the 4800 block of Tamarisk, holding a pistol to his head, Holloway said.

He wasn't cooperating with police officers' attempts to get him to surrender, and Bellaire Police Department called the Houston Police Department SWAT and Negotiation Team for help responding to the incident.

During SWAT negotiations, the man continued to be noncompliant, also continuing to threaten himself with the pistol, said Houston police Assistant Chief L.J. Satterwhite.

Police did use "less lethal ammunition" to apprehend the man, the assistant chief said. He declined to explain exactly what ammunition was used, but said it was intended to stop the suspect without causing him any injury.

Bellaire police helped get several people who live in the home outside early on during the standoff, Holloway said.

The man doesn't appear to have any connection to the house, and it's unclear why he shot at officers in the first place, Satterwhite said.

"We don’t know his overall condition, in terms of what caused this, what started this, why he elected to shoot at the police," Satterwhite said. That’s something we’ll have to find out down the road."

After the man was arrested, police lifted a request for nearby residents to stay in their homes. The 4800 block of Tamarisk, as well as Fournace from the service road to South Rice Avenue, are still blocked, according to the city of Bellaire.